POST Office chiefs have ordered a review of staffing levels at Southport’s main branch on Lord Street after complaints of growing queues.

The vow by managers to take action to ensure waiting times are “realistic” was revealed in a reply to a letter from the town’s MP, John Pugh.

He had written to highlight reports of rising customer backlogs – with elderly users said to be bearing the brunt of delays.

Now, the network’s area manager will ensure research is undertaken to better match user demand with staff resources, in a bid to stamp out “excessive” waiting times in the future.

Dr Pugh told the Southport Visiter: “It may not be 100% of the time, but quite a lot of the time elderly customers are having to wait quite unnecessarily, and this is not only bad for the Post Office but for customers as well.

“It was one of the anxieties we had when they closed Forest Road Post Office, and as far as I can see, anecdotally so far, the situation has deteriorated in precisely the way we expected – and it’s going to put people off using the Post Office at all.”

The Liberal Democrat MP said he had been told of times when “very long queues” had been served by only three staff in the branch.

On Monday, a Visiter reporter was served within seven minutes of joining the queue at Lord Street Post Office, shortly before 1pm.

Between six and eight employees staffed a total of 10 available tills during the period. Outside, one customer said the progress of the queue had been faster than usual.

Valerie Clegg, 71, described a 20-minute wait at the branch as “about the norm” and said she experienced queuing there for “nearly an hour”.

“It’s rare to find you are in and out in five to 10 minutes,” said Mrs Carr, of Woodvale, who has artificial hips and a spinal problem.

She added: “I’m disabled and there is nowhere to sit.”

William Johnson, 69, said the pace of service that day had been “excellent” and was generally “not too bad”.

But the Windsor Road resident added he had seen occasions when queues stretched out of the doors and onto Lord Street.

A Post Office spokeswoman said: “A number of changes have been implemented at Southport Post Office in recent weeks, which are still bedding in, and we are aware that this has contributed to queues in the branch at peak periods.

“We apologise to customers who have had to wait to be served and assure them that we are monitoring the situation closely and will do everything we can to ensure it improves quickly.”